Lessons learned on leading teams effectively accross borders Global Summit of Women May 2011 Ana García Fau - CEO Yell Publicidad

Yell Publicidad Revenues: 517 MM€ EBITDA: 158 MM€ Margin: 30.5% Customers: 438 M Professionals: 2,300 FY 2010 figures Latinamerica: 30% of revenues 1,325 professionals Part of Yell Group Leading directory company: print, online, mobile, telephone Presence in Spain, Italy, Chile, Argentina and Peru

Step 1: Consider the business and strategic challenges first Business transformation: from print towards digital Faster growth in emerging markets Avoid the country-wide strategy mistake! Room to operate as a group?

Get the right people to do the job Recruiting is key! –Difficult to identify local talent –Proper job descriptions –Will they fit with the culture? Analyse the “skill gap”

Build a team you can trust… and give it visibility Bring on board people you can trust that share the vision –Expatriates vs reverse expatriates –Change members of the team, if necessary Balance local vs non-local at Board and Executive Committee levels Equal opportunities: promote cross- border talent

A shared vision Engage local top management in the process Continuous contact and communication Group objectives vs country objectives Ensure building from what is “common”: focus on “what we agree” Create a sense of identity with the “mother company” Make top local management visible

Acknowledge their “uniqueness” Take time to understand and address local challenges Encourage them to “speak up” Leave room for local specificities Address diversity and cultural differences: –Promote cultural awareness and tolerance (code of ethics) –Practice empathy: respect different working schedules, bank holidays…

Building an effective cross-border team Local enough? Global enough? Preference for management styles and ways of working accepted everywhere Sharing best practices (both ways) Leverage on local team strengths (centers of excellence) Coordination of core activities, functional reportings: finance, operations, legal, purchasing… Common IT platforms and processes if appropriate Define right degrees of autonomy

An effective team brings results!

Day to day… Common standard operating procedures and reportings Monthly business reviews Avoid information overload Focus on what´s important

Have a structured contact plan: address the distance issue New technologies make it easier and cheaper! Balance F2F meetings, conference calls, video conferencing – Local visits; ensure visits to headquarters as well – Conference calls are proper meetings – Document sharing facilities, s Choose the correct channel Organise team building and strategic events Encourage functional meetings rotating the “host”

Some issues to think about Is this not working due to distance issues? Would it work if they work in the same office as me? Am I practicing good management and leadership style? Knowing how difficult it is to manage teams effectively across borders… do I make my “remote” boss´ life easier?